For Debbie, Bryce & Kieron

life lessons from the Lord’s table

John van de Laar

BOOKS
 SACREDISE BOOKS
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South Africa
Email: john@sacredise.com
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Copyright € 2005 by John van de Laar

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 Contents

Acknowledgements p.7
Foreword p.9
Introduction p.13
1.Listening With Our Eyes (Sacrament) p.19
A Liturgy for the Sacrament p.31
2.Intimacy (Communion) p.37
A Liturgy for Communion p.51
3.Shared Memories (The Lord's Supper) p.57
A Liturgy for the Lord's Supper p.69
4.Open Hands, Thankful Hearts (Eucharist) p.75
A Liturgy for the Eucharist p.87
5.Body Logic (Breaking Bread) p.93
A Liturgy for the Breaking of Bread p.105
6.Love Made New (Agape) p.111
A Liturgy for the Agape p.125
7.Fuel (Spiritual Feast) p.131
A Liturgy for the Spiritual Feast p.145
8.Dying to Live (Celebration of Sacrifice) p.151
A Liturgy for the Celebration of Sacrifice p.165
9.Pie in the Sky? (Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet) p.171
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet p.185
Conclusion p.191
Appendix – Daily Devotions p.193
 Acknowledgments

I wrote this book because I believe in the power of words. However,

words are not enough to express the depth of gratitude that I feel toward
those who have helped me bring this book into being. Without them, Food
for the Road would still be an incoherent jumble of thoughts in my head.
More than anyone else this book owes its existence to my wife, best
friend and encourager, Debbie. Thank you for the hours of conversation in
which these ideas have been formed and developed. Thank you for
believing that I could be an author, and that my ideas were worth writing
down. Thank you for your constant support and encouragement, ensuring
that I remained faithful to the dream, and got this project to completion. I
love you.
My parents, Ken and Sheila van de Laar, and my sister, Caryl Dinnie,
have been a tremendous source of support through the years. I am deeply
grateful for their comments and ideas, and for enabling this book to be
published.
The bulk of the editing work was done by Noeleen De Beer, who so
willingly agreed to take on the task, in spite of my tight deadline. I am
Food for the Road 8

amazed by her keen eye, and command of the English language. This book
is so much better for her input.
It is always especially helpful to live and work in a community in which
ideas can be explored and developed. This has been my experience at the
Northfield Methodist Church in Benoni, South Africa, where I have
worked for the last six years. My colleagues in ministry there have been
valuable catalysts and co-pilgrims in the spiritual journey. To them I am
deeply indebted. And to the people of this community, I express immense
gratitude for their prayers and encouragement.
Among my colleagues, there is one person who, more than any other,
has given a tremendous amount of time and support. Trevor Hudson was
the first person outside of my family to express faith in my writing, and has
offered consistent encouragement through the process of writing this book.
His willingness to read rough drafts and offer suggestions, his patience in
our informal chat sessions, in which many of my ideas have been tested,
and finally his willingness to write the foreword have been gifts of
inestimable value. Thanks, Trev!
Finally, this book is a reflection on my own faith journey, and the God
who has broken through to me in grace. There is no part of me that is not
touched by the gentle compassion of this ever-present Companion. I pray
that in some way, this book, and the life of which it is a part, may be an
adequate expression of gratitude to the One at Whose table I am so
surprisingly privileged to eat.

John
 Foreword

It is a special joy and privilege to write this Foreword to John van de

Laar’s first book, Food for the Road: Life Lessons from the Lord’s Table.
Ever since first meeting John several years ago, I have been struck by his
unique gifts of heart and mind that have enabled him to make a significant
contribution to the worship life of the Christian church. Whether he is
designing a worship celebration for a large multi-cultural, multi-lingual
and multi-generational group of people drawn from all over Africa, or
leading a small band of worshippers in an early morning communion
service in his local congregation, whatever John does in worship is
consistently marked by a sensitive inclusiveness, a generous orthodoxy and
a deep love for God and God’s world. Whenever I share in one of his
services, I sense that John himself experiences worship even while he leads
it.
This book is the fruit of John’s own evolving faith journey, his solid
academic studies and his long personal experience in planning worship
events for people from diverse backgrounds. It focuses on the central
mystery of Christian worship, that event which we call Holy Communion,
the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper or the Breaking of Bread, depending on
Food for the Road 10

what Church tradition we come from. Clearly John’s heart has been
captivated by the profound significance of this sacred meal and he wants to
share what he has discovered. He does this beautifully. He does not try to
sell, or propagandize or impose his views on the reader. Rather he simply
seeks to invite us to share in this holy feast with a deeper awareness of
what we are really doing. Certainly, after reading this book, eating the
bread and drinking the wine will not be the same for me again.
What I value most in this book is the way John connects the sacred meal
to sacred living. He does this by illustrating the main points of the
celebration of Jesus’ meal with stories drawn from his own world of
relationships, play and work. There is enough honest and vulnerable self-
disclosure to convince the reader that he seeks to live out what he writes
about. By making these connections between worship and everyday life,
he helps us to notice these divine-human connections in our own lives as
well. I have little doubt that this book will not only help the reader
experience Jesus’ meal differently, it will also help us to live differently
because of John’s insights.
There are many other things that I appreciate. Let me just mention two.
On the one hand, I am grateful for John’s imaginative use of language.
Language is one of the main ways by which our lives and faith develop.
Especially when it comes to the way we use words in worship. Sadly, we
live in a cliche-ridden church culture that often trivialises language. This
constitutes a major threat to the deepening of our spirituality. So it is of the
utmost importance that those of us who want to mature and grow in our
faith, also care about language. Through his skillful and careful use of
words, particularly in the liturgies outlined at the end of each chapter, John
shows us how we can recover language in the service of the gospel.
I also appreciate John’s gentle but strong insistence that any genuine
worship encounter with God must lead us into a more compassionate and
just response to human need. Certainly the Bible is clear about this. When
we open our hearts to the crucified and risen Jesus, he always enters them
with his arms around his brothers and sisters, especially those who suffer.
Worship that removes us from human suffering is counterfeit and illusive.
It betrays God’s own passionate love for every human being, denies our
connectedness in the human family, and results in what has been called “a
false inwardness”. Unlike many other books on the subject of worship, this
one helps us to see that intimacy with God and care for the hurting are two
sides of the same coin.
Foreword 11

Around the post-modern world there is a widespread yearning in the

human heart for an authentic experience of living worship. People are
longing for a deep personal encounter with God and a spiritually
orientated way of life that will empower them to live creatively and
compassionately. Thankfully, God is raising up a new breed of writers,
and I believe John van de Laar is one of them, who are helping us find our
way forward into a more sacred way of living. They speak with a fresh
voice. We will do well to listen carefully to what the Spirit may be saying
through them

TREVOR HUDSON
 Introduction

One of my favourite seasons on the church calendar is Harvest Festival.

I love the way it invites us to recognise the abundance that God provides,
and express our thanksgiving in all the creative glory we can muster. In our
church, the sanctuary is decorated with fresh produce and flowers, and
many of our small groups and ministries show off their activities in bright
and colourful displays that adorn the walls. In the Sunday services the
children are specially invited and catered for and every available piece of
floor space is filled with excited bodies. The worship absorbs all of this
energy, and channels it through music and prayer, activity and image to
the God from Whom it all flows.
We enjoy this celebration every year, but there is one moment, from a
few years ago that will always characterise this season for me. In amongst
the flowers and food a mother knelt to receive the bread and wine. Her tiny
son, a toddler, moved cautiously from her side and placed a can of
vegetables on the steps at the front of the church alongside the similar
offerings of other worshippers. Then he ran back to the shelter of her arms.
Her prayer, rather than being disrupted by him, seemed to encompass and
fill his hesitant act of worship. How little his mind must understand of all this, I
Food for the Road 14

thought, but how much his heart must have been formed by it.
Children of the world of all ages are searching for what that little boy
touched that day. And perhaps the church of Jesus Christ, whatever its
faults may be, is uniquely placed to be a companion in the quest. However
we may feel about the emerging post-modern, media-centred culture, this
era has extended a remarkable gift to those who participate in the mission
of Jesus. Our sacraments - sign-acts - have never been more central to our
task. Nor have they ever had greater potential to impact the lives of
spiritual travellers. Stability is a rare commodity in this new and changing
world, and yet it seems that the desire for stability is exactly what has
made the ancient rites of the church so attractive again.
The gift of a post-literal world is a heightened awareness of, and
responsiveness to, symbol. Few symbols carry the energy of water, or the
comfort of the broken bread and cup of wine. On the highway of
information overload, the spiritual, heart-touching message of these
symbols speaks again.
The gift of a post-modern age is a quest for mystery and transcendence.
No human activity affords a sense of connectedness with God as
powerfully as deep, heartfelt worship – and humanity's thirst is growing.
At the centre of Christian worship are the table and the font - miraculous
portals through which the interconnectedness of matter and spirit, of God
and His humanity, is seen and experienced. The living water is again in
demand.
The gift of post-Christian spirituality is an openness to new expressions
of ancient truth. For church-less or church-lost people, the sacraments can
become a receiver for hearing God's voice again. Once they may have been
an insider ritual, meaningless to the uninitiated. But now, the potential is
great for them to become valued spiritual exercises for all spiritual seekers.
There is an awesome power in our sacraments for spiritual
nourishment, healing, correction, awakening and transformation. The
liturgy which supports the sacrament is integral to this power.
Increasingly, the depth of faith, the sense of Christian identity and the
poetry of liturgy are being valued in post-modern Christian circles. The
sense of transcendence and purpose, the ordering and consecration of time
and place, the firming of the bonds of community, the challenge to live
"christianly" which the liturgy brings are gifts to be treasured and
nurtured. Liturgy is spilling over the boundaries between "traditional" and
"contemporary" worship forms. Now is a kairos - an appointed time - for
Introduction 15

Christian poets and theologians to express the ancient faith and present
worship of the Church in fresh and energetic liturgies. My hope is that this
book may be both a small contribution and a catalyst to this significant
journey.
The Word, which guides and informs the community of faith in Jesus, is
unchanging and ever-new. Throughout the Church-age, the timeless
Gospel has been clothed in contemporary language and image. As
sacramental liturgy follows this tradition of change, the Church is enabled
to reach new generations of believers and seekers alike. As a contemporary
spiritual poetry, the liturgy can touch the heart of a humanity which is as
thirsty for God as ever.
Both Christian sign-acts – the font and the table – are effective for faith-
building and nurturing, but it is the meal of Jesus – the sharing of bread
and wine – more frequent and repeatable than baptism, that offers the
primary means to establish the faith community and touch those in search
of Christ.
The New Testament offers no fewer than nine theological emphases in
the celebration of the meal of Jesus, each with a unique way of engaging
the heart, mind and spirit of worshippers, and each offering a unique
lesson for the business of daily living. Together, these images give a clearer
view of the depth and significance of this fundamental Christian rite. As a
Sacrament, the meal makes God's Word visible and tangible, and expresses
the truth of the Gospel in proclamation. It calls us to live our faith as a real,
embodied truth. Communion is a common name for this meal, speaking of
the union we experience with God in our worship, and challenging us to
live life in intimacy with God, our world and others. As The Lord's
Supper, the events of Jesus' last meal with His disciples are remembered,
the immense and generous servanthood of Christ is celebrated, and we are
invited to root our lives in constant remembrance of God’s grace through
the ages, and in our own lives. The Eucharist is the emphasis that leads us
into thanksgiving for God's grace and love, represented in the loaf and cup.
When we share in the Breaking of Bread, we celebrate the shared life
(koinonia) of the community of faith, as it centres around the Lord's table.
Historically, the Agape became a separate celebration from the sacrament,
but theologically, it is still a strong emphasis in the sharing of this meal,
calling our attention to the reconciliatory message of Christ, which draws
humanity to each other and to God in the difficult, but powerful, work of
forgiveness. The work of the Holy Spirit in nourishing and transforming
Food for the Road 16

the believer is represented through the focus on the sacrament as the

Spiritual Meal. God's self-giving is acknowledged in the Celebration of
Sacrifice, and we are called to respond through giving ourselves to God,
and committing ourselves to living that is fully engaged life’s joys and
suffering. And finally, the Christian hope in Christ is expressed in this rite
when we view it as a Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet. Each of these
emphases will be expanded and developed in one of the chapters of this
book, and will be accompanied by a liturgy which celebrates that meaning
of this meal.
The liturgies can be used in church services, in small groups and for
personal devotion (obviously ensuring that where communion is received
it is done so according to the discipline and practice of your church). No
indication of hymns, songs, readings or sermons is given, in order to
maintain a sense of freedom, encouraging the adaptation of these liturgies
to whatever requirements a particular worship event may present. It is
even possible to "lift" some of the prayers out of these liturgies to use in
services which do not include the sacrament. Feel free to make use of this
material in whatever way is helpful.
The purpose of this book is to bridge the gap between our worship as a
community of faith on Sundays, and our personal, daily walk with God as
individuals during the week. The thoughts of each chapter will explore this
link in detail, and the liturgies, then, are designed to bring this connection
into the worship experience. Finally, each chapter ends with questions for
further reflection, which can be used in groups or for personal study. To
complete the process, an appendix is included at the back of the book
which provides a basic outline for a week of individual spiritual exercises.
These outlines are intended to be revisited after each chapter is read, using
the specific insights of the chapter within a simple, repeating framework.
The language of this book is intended to be natural and contemporary.
This is an attempt to safeguard against the meal becoming nothing more
than dry, formal ritual. The message and the heart of our faith, which is
centred in the person of Jesus Christ, remains constant through the ages.
The way this message is packaged, the way this person is encountered,
however, changes with time. Since all our words are simply signs –
metaphors that point to a reality beyond themselves – it is possible to use
fresh, new, even startling words to point to the ancient truths of faith. This
is, in fact, what the people of God have done for millennia. The liturgies in
this book, in particular, seek to use ancient formulae and elements of
Introduction 17

worship, capturing the timeless message of the Gospel, but using language
that would be familiar, for the most part, even to those who have never
been to a church before. I pray that this will make them both exciting and
useful for churches seeking to bring a new life into their worship.
Finally, my quest in writing this book has been to offer a useful
resource, a creative catalyst and a source of deep intimacy with God. Only
the reader will be able to judge whether I have been successful in this task.
But, beneath it all is a simple prayer - may our sharing in the Meal of Jesus
be a sharing in His life, His death, His victory, His community and His
mission.

John van de Laar

June 2005
 Listening With Our Eyes
(Sacrament)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . (John 1:1,14)

For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's
death until he comes.
(1 Cor 11:26)

'How do I know that you love me?"

There was a playfulness to the question, reflected in the kittenish gleam
in Debbie's eyes, and in the smile pressing that dangerous dimple into her
left cheek. But, there was also a yearning, a current of need beneath the
casual surface of her words. Perhaps if I'd understood the question, it
would have been a source of shared laughter and I could have dived into it
with abandon, but I had missed it before, and I knew of nothing that would
make it any different now.
The Question had appeared many times, springing out of the shadows
like an unwanted surprise party, and somehow its meaning was always
Food for the Road 20

just beyond my grasping thoughts and stammering phrases. Under the

gaze of those vulnerable and love-washed eyes, I was defenceless. And I
panicked.
"How can she ask me this?" I fretted inwardly. "She must know by now
that I love her." The Question was heavy in the air between us, and it
seemed to be growing, like a wild creeper rising to cover an invisible fence.
"Look at all the things I do for you . . ." I self-righteously offered lists of
chores, gifts and dates in support of my plea, thinking that they would
place me beyond question.
It was the wrong answer.
Becoming a little desperate, I tried to move in closer, take Debbie's
hands and look into her eyes. The playfulness was fading, and a
guardedness was taking its place. In a fatherly 'gentleness' I slowly
explained the vows that I had made a few years earlier.
"You need to learn to trust my promise," I chided. "I haven't let you
down yet, and I've given you no reason to believe I ever will."
If my first response was self-righteous, my second attempt was the
worst kind of arrogance. I stepped easily into the role of patriarch, teaching
her, the trespassing child, what was really going on. Why I thought this
should satisfy her, I have no idea.
The Question was unmoved.
My desperation gave way to aggression, and I began to hack at the
Question, trying to make her see the foolishness of what she was asking.
"After all I've said and done, you still don't believe that I love you!" I
accused. The playfulness died in her eyes, and she finally released me, but
not before I saw the hurt reflected in her now undimpled cheek.
The Question had won again.
Somehow, in spite of reruns of this scenario in more settings and forms
than I care to remember, we kept seeking each other out. We continued
searching for ways to connect, and we often succeeded. It is a tribute to
Debbie's strength and love that she kept her heart open through all the
misunderstanding and pain. But, the Question was never completely
absent, its shadow a threatening reminder of the invisible hedge between
us.
Until, one day, I understood. I'm still not sure how it broke through to
me, or why it took so long, but I saw the roots of the Question, and
suddenly, I knew I had it beaten.
It started the same way: "How do I know that you love me?" The
Listening with Our Eyes 21

playfulness and need were both clearly in evidence, but something in me

shifted. An impulse filled me, making my normal defences retreat into
silence. This time, I relaxed into the hold of those hazel eyes. I stepped
forward and slipped my arms around her waist, pulling her to me as
strongly and gently as I could. And then, I kissed her. I didn't miss the
slight widening of her eyes in surprise and relief just before they closed.
We settled into each other like a cat into a warm blanket, and let our hearts
merge happily. This time the surprise was welcome.
I'll never really know why it changed that day, or why understanding
was so long in coming. For years the Question had been a challenge, a
locked border post where distrustful guards refused entrance unless the
proper credentials could be presented. The shift was a sudden inexplicable
opening of my understanding to recognise the Question as an invitation, an
unprotected bridge into a place of warmth, rest and security. All I had to
do was say, "yes."
Where before I had felt that my love was being submitted to rigorous
testing and found wanting, I now saw in this moment the gift of
opportunity. Rather than an examination of my past attempts at love, I had
been offered a platform with a captive audience, a place where I could
express my love in the present tense, and enjoy an appreciative ovation.
Somehow, I had finally seen the sacrament in the Question.
A sacrament is a "sign-act," an outward expression of an inward reality.
Through symbol, object, or more frequently, action, we are brought into
contact with a larger truth, a higher power. The Question, rather than
placing doubt against my love, had only been possible in the context of
love that is trusted and enjoyed. And the invitation it offered was to make
my invisible feelings visible, for Debbie to enter into and connect with.
Recognising love's restless demand for expression, Debbie offered me a
moment in which she was totally attuned to me to say, visibly, "I love you."
She was inviting me to join her in a sacrament of our shared life and
intimacy, for the word of our love to be incarnated in a form of which she
could partake and enjoy, and by which her sense of being loved and of
giving love in return, could be renewed.
Sometimes I still forget the real meaning of the Question, but mostly it
brings me back to a fundamental truth of our relationship – love longs to be
made visible.
Food for the Road 22

Debbie and I are not alone in our need to share ourselves with each
other. It is integral to humanity that every desire, every emotion and every
longing we nurture within us seeks a voice. We are creatures of the Word;
beings whose entire existence is built on expressing the inner working of
our minds and hearts. We search incessantly for a place to sing our unique
song. We struggle for a voice to make it known. And we ache for an
audience to listen and respond. "How do I know that you love me?" is a
Question of human nature and need.
The emergence of the Internet has been called the dawn of the age of
information. This may just be the greatest misnomer in history. Much of
cyberspace would be rather flattered to bear that ascription. The
achievement of the world wide web is not so much the way it informs, but
rather the international stage that it has provided for the sharing of human
hopes and despairs, human love and lust, human wisdom and folly,
human nobility and evil. Our computers are the portal into the Age of
Expression.
Never before has it been possible for an overweight young man to make
his quest for the perfect body public on an international scale. A visit to his
web site offers "before" and "after" photographs, training routines and diet
outlines. He invites any who may feel so inclined to chart his progress and
offer suggestions for workout and eating plans. It is staggering to realise
that he may well have won a world wide support base for his efforts. And,
no, he is not a celebrity!
When has it ever been possible for a small group of people to claim,
quite credibly, that they can give the real inside story on breaking news
events, in defiance of the large, multi-national news agencies? By inviting
the people living through these stories to share their reflections and
observations, they might just come close to what they promise. Ordinary
people sharing their ordinary, but dramatic, stories with an international
cyber-community. Who can doubt our need to express and share our
selves?
The internet may just be the largest and greatest sacrament to the
human drama in history.
Humanity is a creature of the Word. We are beings with a message, each
longing to "get it out there", passionately seeking connection. The Word
will be heard, and will make itself manifest in as many ways as there are
people. It is now well recognised that verbal exchange is not the crux of
communication. Words are often the smallest part of what is expressed. We
Listening with Our Eyes 23

speak through an amazing variety of actions, movements, facial

expressions, noises, symbols and images. In the midst of this, words play a
small, albeit significant, part.
A few years ago I was watching a sitcom in which a group of people
were sharing their despair, their curiosity, their weariness, their
uncertainty and their anger. What made this exchange so funny, was that
the only word that was spoken was, "So." The tone of voice, body language
and facial expressions gave each "so" a different meaning – saying so little,
but expressing so much.
And every expression of the human organism is a search for connection
with another soul.
The gift of the digital revolution is that this quest can be satisfied as
never before. Relationships are sustained across the globe with greater ease
than ever. The thirst to touch and be touched, to know and be known,
psychologically and spiritually, is now potentially more likely to be
quenched than at any other time – or at least that would seem to be the
case.
In reality, there is a painful flip-side to the new open forum for
expression. To have such vast possibility for connection, and to reach out,
only to find that no one is really listening, can be a devastating experience.
Ironically, in a world where everyone can speak and be heard, the chances
of finding a good listener can be radically reduced. The sacrament can
easily become a snack with no meaning or value, except to provide a
pseudo-comfort as we gorge ourselves on our own words.
I heard the other day about a man who passed away. Living on his own,
and with no real connection to friends or neighbours, it was three weeks
before his body was discovered. In a world of free and unbridled
expression, this lone voice, unheard and unmissed is a great tragedy. To
ask the Question, "how do I know that you love me?" and receive in return
a great silence, or an unconcerned babble, is an immense cruelty. Perhaps
the lesson our interconnected world still needs to learn is the art of
listening. And this is not just because there are souls dying for lack of an
audience to receive their song. The whole of humanity, in its quest to share
its story, may just miss the "still, small voice" of its Creator, calling for
intimacy with His creatures.
If we are beings of the Word, it is because our Source is The Word. In an
eternal passion for intimacy with women and men, God has expressed
Himself in a staggering variety of ways. The Bible, often called the Word,
Food for the Road 24

the Communication, of God, overflows with phrases like, "God said,..." "the
Word of the Lord came to..." "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear..."
Without question, God speaks, and we need to hear His voice. In a world
of words without deep relationships, our hearts and our spirits reach like a
root for water to know the message of infinite love so welcoming, and so
passionate that no lengths are too much of a stretch for God in His quest to
make it known. It is a message we were created to hear, and which, if
unheard, leaves an aching vacuum within us.
Significantly, the first thing God does in the first verses of Genesis, is
speak; each utterance taking shape and substance, and coming into being
as earth or sky, plant, animal or human. At the centre of every created
thing, in the essence of every object, every thought, idea, longing and
relationship, is the Word of God. The entire created order, seen and
unseen, is the communication of God – a world and its inhabitants, located
in a universe in which each particle is the form of an idea, an utterance, a
self-expression of God. This planet and everything on it, the solar system
and the Milky Way, and all the galaxies beyond, every microscopic particle
and the void between them are all the manifest Voice of the Creator. God's
answer to the Question we unknowingly chant: "How do we know that
You love us?" Perhaps this is the truth that moved the psalmist to write:
The heavens tell of the glory of God
The skies display his marvellous craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or a word;
Their voice is silent in the skies;
Yet their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to all the world. (Ps.19:1-4)
Clearly, it is a sacramental world we live in. A world which would
simply cease to be if God should fall silent. The apostle Paul understood
this when he wrote:
From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and
all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal
power and divine nature. (Rom.1:20)
The first chapter of John's Gospel is the classic poem of creation, birthed
through the eternal Word of God. The Word that became flesh. As
sacramental as this world is, Jesus Christ is the Supreme Sacrament.
"Anyone who has seen me, has seen the Father," he claimed unabashedly
(Jn.14:9) – and he alone of all people has given sufficient evidence to make
Listening with Our Eyes 25

the claim believable. In the writings of the evangelists we see, through the
image of Christ presented there, something of the image of God. The Word
of God made visible, tangible, audible. The sacrament to define all
sacraments. The song of John's first letter bursts with the joy of this truth:
The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard and seen.
We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is
Jesus Christ, the Word of life. (1 Jn.1:1)
This is how deeply God felt the need to communicate – that He would
wrap himself in our frame of reference, human images and language,
human flesh and experience, in order to be heard by human ears, received
into human hearts. For me, this is the magnetic attraction of Christian
faith: the truth, the power and the experience of Sacrament. Christ as the
God Who enters the ordinary and fills it with deity.

In spite of the fact that most churches have a limited number of

'sacraments', sacramental truth is unconstrained. God has filled our
existence with a constant flow of words, symbols, images, actions and
objects that express His heart: "I love you, I love you, I love you..." Ours is a
universe of sacraments. And within each person is the potential to hear the
whispering Spirit, to see His word in our existence and environment and to
embrace it with every moment of our lives.
In a world infused with sacrament, where the air we breathe carries the
voice print of God, there is still the need for the sanctuary, and for its
unique table. Significantly, the absence of time, space and ritual into which
we can enter as an intentional quest for the sacred, leads to an absence of
sacramental awareness in the mundane routine of every day. The world
never ceases to be sacramental, but we too easily cease to be communicants
of its soul-feeding reality. We wander asleep and unaware that the dream
we experience is a poor shadow of the vibrant, colourful life which throbs
around and within us. We are awakened only when we regularly move
into a place and time which is designed to heighten our connection to the
holy; when we move to the rhythms of ritual which are not our own, but
are gifts from an involved Deity, and an ancient community which has
loved and served Him.
And so we gather regularly to see the bread broken, and watch the wine
poured. We listen with our eyes for the message proclaimed in familiar and
Food for the Road 26

timely actions which speak with the authority of the ages, performed in a
place which carries the weight of Presence. It is because of this gift of
sacrament, transforming simple bread and ordinary juice of grapes into a
proclamation of good news, that we can begin to believe that God really is
with us in the day and night of our existence.
For our lives and our world to be sacramental, we need the sacrament.
To recognise God in all things, we need first to know His voice in these
special things. This bread and this cup, this table and this sanctuary are
portals of Presence – opening our eyes and ears to God, and training them
to remain open even when we have left the ritual behind. Without the
sacrament there can be no sacramental life, no sacrament world.
And so we taste the bread, knowing that we partake of the flesh – the
visible garment – of God. We drink the wine, receiving the blood – the "life-
fluid" – of God. And we are sensitised to the breath of God within us. We
are drawn to the myriad bodies He incarnates Himself through, to the
variety of life-bloods through which He waits to pour Himself into us, and
which can be encountered at any turn.
And, miraculously, we discover that God speaks. That He has never
stopped speaking, even in the silence. The torn loaf, and the scarlet drink
begin to shout their proclamation of life found in death.
The truth is, a kernel of wheat must be planted in the soil. Unless it dies it
will be alone – a single seed. But its death will produce many new kernels – a
plentiful harvest of new lives. (Jn.12:24).
If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up
your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.
(Mk.8:35)
The essential message of the Gospel, and of the Sacrament, is the cross:
the symbol of the God whose love is so immense that He would restrict
Himself, creating a finite world as an object of His love, and then entering
that world as a creature to share both life and death with the people of His
passion. It is God's embrace, His kiss, that answers the need within us for
communion with eternal love. This truth is both incredibly simple and the
deepest of mysteries. This story is repeated over and over through the
endless variety of pictures and images which God has built into the
universe. But nowhere is this message shouted louder than when bread is
broken and wine is poured.
The Sacramental moment, the visible experience of the Word, is easy to
enjoy, but also easy to miss. The call is for us to choose to see, to
Listening with Our Eyes 27

intentionally open our ears and souls to receive the story, and to enter into
its truth – in the sanctuary and in the streets we walk every day.
When we do this, we become awakened to the sacred, and the lines
between sacred and secular begin to fall away. This sacred moment
changes us, and we begin to recognise that all of life is infused with the
holy. We see God's Word in all its incarnations in the world.
And slowly and suddenly we find that all of our attitudes and actions
are filled with the reality of the Sacrament.
The miracle of this is twofold. That God would speak to human beings
at all, calling us friends (Jn.15:15), and drawing us into God’s story as
confidants and participants is the greatest gift of dignity and connection
that we could ever imagine. That God would humble Himself enough to
ask of us the gift of our attention to His voice is simply mind-boggling.
And in these twin gifts is the blessing of a life overflowing with God; a life
of intimacy and shared stories that makes every second tingle with the
potential for Presence.
The challenge of the Sacrament is that God is constantly reaching out to
us with His self-expression. He never ceases to communicate with us and
call us into conversation. Every moment holds the potential to become a
kairos – an appointed time, a time of significance in God's purposes, a
moment of encounter. A sacramental moment.
Anything has the potential to turn into a burning bush, drawing our
attention to the holy in our midst. A sacramental element.
In two thought-provoking reviews, writers from a well-known worship
periodical, expressed their thankfulness to the Irish rock band U2, for
leading them into an encounter with God. Both writers reflected on what
their experience – which was as much a moment of worship as any church
service – revealed about the unconstrained Presence of God, and the
possibility of opening ourselves to Him in unexpected places. This band
had, in that moment, become for these writers a communication from God.
What surprised me was the number of angry letters in response,
claiming that the writers were somehow misleading the readers. These
letters refused to acknowledge that God can be found anywhere but in the
so-called sacred places. What a tragic manifestation of faith and sacrament
that are removed from living reality. What a tragedy when our theology
loses its sacramental heart.
But, there is still more. Sacramental faith recognises not only God's
invitation to us, but also His desire to communicate through us. Made in
Food for the Road 28

God's image, every human being is a sacrament, a visible manifestation of

the Word of God. It is a humbling and challenging exercise to search in
every face for the image of Christ. It makes people look different somehow.
Even the "ugly" and destructive ones carry the Word of God within them,
and it changes radically our attitudes and interactions when we seek it out.
One old man in a township old-age home helped me to begin to live this
truth. John had lived a full and varied life. Out of touch with his children
and driven by an addiction to alcohol, he had reached old age with a
ravished soul and broken body. Somehow, he had found faith along the
way. I remember talking to him after one of the short, midweek services we
held in the sitting room of the home. As I knelt in front of him, he held my
hand with his bony fingers – the nails torn and thin. His misty eyes bore
into mine as he whispered through his few remaining teeth, "If you open
the door of your heart to God, just a tiny crack, He will come flooding in."
And in that jaded face I saw traces of a renewed soul that had experienced
those words. And a reflection, like a blurred hologram, of the face of God.
Every week this scene repeated itself for the year that we led services
there. And each week I grew to love this frail old man more - and the face
of God I saw superimposed over his regretful smile. His words have
brought me comfort more times than I can count, and that weekly
conversation, long ceased, still has the sense of sacrament to me.
The sacrament is not passive. It is a vibrant and evocative proclamation
of the Gospel message in act and symbol, and it seeks to invade every part
of the lives of those who partake of its elements. We cannot receive the
sacrament without also receiving its call to view life sacramentally, to seek
out Christ in whatever "distressing disguise" He may choose to wear. The
sacrament raises the uncomfortable questions of compassion and justice, of
forgiveness and cheek-turning, of service and humility. “When you did it to
one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”
(Mt.25:40) is a sacramental imperative to treat all of humanity, especially
the seemingly inhuman ones, as carriers of the divine image. It is a
paradigm shift which forces us to gaze on the world and see God's
fingerprints.
Ecology and social welfare are not new-age, humanist endeavours,
although, ironically, it seems to have been these groups that are the most
concerned with these issues. Rather, they are the natural overflow of a
sacramental faith which recognises God in all things, and responds in
therapeuo (Acts 17:25) – the worship of service.
Listening with Our Eyes 29

The transforming miracle of sacrament is that the more we recognise the

sacramental reality that fills our world, the more we become sacraments
ourselves. Christ lives in you and this is your assurance that you will share in his
glory, writes Paul (Col.1:27), and this is the mystery of the Gospel. The
question is whether those who partake of our words and actions will taste
Jesus, or just the bland dryness of soulless flesh.

In the Sacrament, the breaking of bread and the sharing of wine, the
Gospel of the God who has entered our world and made His love available,
is proclaimed. The Word becomes visible. We listen with our eyes. This is
the faith that holds the potential to connect human beings with God and
with each other, such that no song goes unlistened to, and no request for
love goes unanswered. The gift of sacrament is a unified world alive with
the Word of God, and a human community transformed into the Voice of
God. Perhaps we do not live this reality yet, but the sacrament assures us
that we will.
"How do I know that you love me?" is an exciting question to pose to
God. The extravagance of the Creator's answer is recognised in a torn piece
of bread and a scarlet mouthful of wine. And once these simple elements
have consumed us, we are overwhelmed by the silently shouted
proclamation of Word made visible in the sacrament and in the
sacramental world. Suddenly the Word of eternal self-giving love is
everywhere our eyes turn – even when they turn within.
 A Liturgy for

The Sacrament
Opening Our Eyes
Silent acknowledgment of God's Presence

Here we gather, where the echo of God's Voice still moves in the air.
Lord, open our ears to hear You speak to us.
Now we meet, as eternity is expressed in time.
Lord, open our eyes to see You smile on us.
Once again, the Word of God is revealed among us in physical form.
Lord, open our hearts to welcome You into our lives.

Opening Our Eyes To The World

Welcoming God, Whose Voice of invitation unceasingly beckons us,
We acknowledge that we are slow to hear Your Word,
and slower to respond.
We recognise that we have often turned away from You
and closed our ears.
We have robbed others of dignity by refusing to listen to their stories,
and we have been more concerned with expressing ourselves
than with opening ourselves to the song of creation.
Food for the Road 32

Silent Confession

For the sake of Jesus Christ, the Word, forgive us.

Give us open ears and receptive hearts to commune with You
and those around us, today and always.
We remember those in whose lives Your Voice is hidden
by the noise of hatred and aggression
Speak to them a word of peace
by the noise of busyness and responsibility
Speak to them a word of calm
by the noise of fear and trauma
Speak to them a word of comfort
by the noise of greed and lust
Speak to them a word of letting go
by the noise of grief and pain
Speak to them a word of healing
by the noise of unbelief and confusion
Speak to them a word of faith
by the noise of poverty and homelessness
Speak to them a word of compassion
by the noise of loneliness and isolation
Speak to them a word of friendship
May Your Voice speak our storms into stillness,
and become for us the fuel
for our living, our loving, our dreaming and our praying.
And make our lives the visible expression of Your love.
For the sake of Jesus, the Word of God. Amen.

Opening our Eyes To Each Other

May the Word of Peace, spoken in Christ,
fill us always, and echo through our doing and our speaking.
The peace of the Lord be always expressed in and through you.
And also in and through you.

Opening Our Eyes to God's Goodness

Let us express our wonder and gratitude for God's Word
revealed within and around us.
God of quiet Word and loud silences,
It is amazing that You would speak to us;
Appendix: Daily Devotions 33

That You would desire us to know Your Story,

and to be Your confidants.
We recognise in this awesome privilege, Your intense love
and unquenchable quest to commune with us.
And so . . .
We thank and praise You for Your Word of life,
made visible in Your humanity
and in every living thing, which nurtures and grows us.

Silent praise is offered.

We thank and praise You for Your Word of love,

made visible in Your availability
and in every caring relationship, which calls us to intimacy
with You.

Silent praise is offered.

We thank and praise You for Your Word of mercy,

made visible in Your Self-giving and in every grudge released,
which forgives and restores us.

Silent praise is offered.

We thank and praise You for Your Word of compassion,

made visible in Your rising and in every serving act,
which heals us and makes us whole.

Silent praise is offered.

God of grace and wonder, receive our praise,

and the love of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength,
expressed in these words. Amen.

Opening our Eyes to God's Presence

God is in this place.
With the eyes of faith we see, and the Word is made visible.
In communion with God, we touch the Word which sustains
all creation, and find our true selves
Food for the Road 34

The Word fills us now, and is expressed in us as praise.

We believe that God spoke the worlds into existence
And we believe that when humanity had closed their ears and hearts
to the Divine Voice
the Word became flesh, living and dying
so that we could be restored as children of God.
We believe that God's Holy Spirit continues to speak life to the world,
and calls us into relationship with God,
with each other and with our world.
O God of Self-disclosing love,
You deserve to be honoured through all eternity
by all beings earthly and heavenly, seen and unseen.
We believe that on the night before Love's final Word was spoken
through the passionate cross
Jesus gave us a way to remember the Word, to hear it again.
He took bread and spoke a word of blessing over it.
Then as He broke the bread, He spoke new meaning into it:
This, My body, is broken for you. Eat this and remember Me.
Through the breaking of bread God speaks,
and we share in the life-nourishing Word.
As with the bread, Jesus took wine and spoke a word of blessing over it.
Then, as the wine was shared, He spoke new meaning into it:
This, My blood, is shed for you. Drink this and remember Me.
Through the wine which we drink, God speaks
and we share in the life-renewing Word.
Whenever this bread is broken, whenever this wine is poured,
we proclaim Jesus Christ –
crucified and risen.
And we will not cease to do this until that time
when Jesus comes again.

Let us prepare our hearts to receive this sacrament

and the Word it speaks
Generous God, we come at Your invitation to hear You and to see You,
to commune with You in this meal.
We come undeserving and in need.
You spoke life into us at the first.
Speak to us again, through this bread and this wine,
and let Your Word of life fill our senses and our days. Amen.
Appendix: Daily Devotions 35

The sacrament is shared.

Opening Our Eyes to Our Mission

O God, Who is revealed in simple, created things,
We thank You for speaking to us
through bread broken and wine poured.
We thank You for the Word of life planted like a seed in our hearts
through this sacrament.
May the fruit it bears be good and plentiful, bringing praise to You. Amen.
As God has spoken to us in this moment, in this sanctuary,
so we hear the Voice of God in the world outside,
moment by moment.
Lord, give us eyes to see.
As the Word of God has been shared with us in our worship,
so we go to share the Word of God with the world longing to hear.
Lord, give us voices to speak, and lives to tell of Your love.

May God's freely-given favour

Christ's self-giving love
And the Holy Spirit's constant companionship
remain with each of us now and into eternity.
Amen.
Food for the Road 36

Questions for Reflection

1.What stood out for you in the reading? What did you feel or experience
during the liturgy?
2.In what ways do you experience the world as sacramental? What makes
this possible? What hinders this sense for you?
3.How does the recognition of God's Voice in the sanctuary and the
sacrament help in hearing God in all places and at all times? Have you
experienced this movement?
4.How does the meaning of the sacrament as the "Word made visible"
change your understanding and experience of the sacrament?
5.How might a sacramental view of faith change the way that you 'see' and
relate to God? To yourself? To other people? To the world and the
environment? To social issues?

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